Singapore’s first-ever world champion is currently ranked eighth.
At the BWF World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, Singapore’s top badminton player is set to defend his title.
Loh Kean Yew, 25, made it past the first round in 29 minutes, besting Spain’s Pablo Abian, ranked 58th in the world, 21-12, 21-12.Loh made history in December of last year when he won the championship at Huelva, Spain, defeating India’s Kidambi Srikanth 21-15, 22-20. However, since then, it has been an uneven year for Loh, who has not yet won a title in the Badminton World Federation Tour 2022.
His highlights for this year were coming in second place to Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsam at the SEA Games in Vietnam in May, as well as making it to the Indian Open final in January, where he lost toin June, as well as the quarter-finals at theBut at the match against Abian on Monday , Loh was in fine form.
“I was focused and stuck to the game plan even when I was trailing. As always, I’m taking it one match at a time and will analyse and discuss the strategy for the next match with my coach,” he added.